London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

Female savers typically have around £500 more squirreled away than men, research from Halifax into its own customers found today.

Despite having lower average earnings, women have a balance of around £8,211 compared to £7,699 held by men - making a savings gap of £512.

This means that while women have around 41% of their annual wages in savings, while men have less than a quarter, at 23%.

Women have more savings as a share of their earnings than men in all regions across England and Wales, Halifax found.

The South West was named as the area where both men and women are likely to have high amounts put away as a proportion of their salaries.

Women in the region have around 49% of their annual earnings in savings, at £8,700 on average, while men there typically have 28% of their yearly wage, or £8,344 stashed away.

Male Halifax customers in Wales also have around 28% of their annual earnings put away in savings, equating to £7,601. Welsh women typically have an above-average 44% of their yearly wage put aside, adding up to around £7,907.

At the other end of the scale, male and female savers in London have the lowest amounts put away in savings as a share of their annual wages, at 18% and 30% respectively. Men in London have a typical balance of £8,032, while women have £8,600.

Purely in cash terms, the largest average balances are held by savers of both sexes in the South East at £9,316, while the lowest are in the North at £7,408.

On a more local level, people living in South Buckinghamshire have the highest average savings balances at £13,762, which is more than three times the average in Hackney, where customers have the lowest typical balances at £4,246.

Savers generally have had a much tougher time in recent months trying to find accounts to give them real returns on their cash, following the introduction of a Government scheme in August to help borrowers.

The Funding for Lending scheme has given lenders access to cheap finance, but analysts have said that it has made lenders less reliant on needing to attract savers' deposits.

Meanwhile, households' ability to put cash aside is still being hampered by high living costs, as wages remain stagnant.

Despite this, Halifax said that average savings balances for its customers increased slightly over the last three months of 2012 to £7,896, showing a £25 rise on the previous quarter.

Various studies in recent months have pointed to households trying to shore up their savings as they pay down their debts.

Richard Fearon, head of Halifax savings, said: "However much cash people can afford to put aside in savings, the most important thing is that it is working as hard as possible.

"Tax efficient savings vehicles such as Isas can help people to make the most of their savings."